Maternity Bras, Trojans and a Beanie Hat
by SepticLovebite
Summary: "You risked your life for a lipstick?" He questioned incredulously. SWIFT RETREATS ARC.


Author's Note:

Caryl is eating my soul! Thanks all for reviews on This Man and This Woman. Have a bit of Carol/Daryl fluff! (Note: I'm ignoring that lovely shot of the prison in the finale, I Wiki'd the comics so I have a general idea where the writers are going with this, but I'm going down a different road because I don't know enough! If we were to follow them Carol would be dead and Daryl wouldn't even exist!) Please note that I know jack shit about guns and crossbows, I Googled the specific gun I mentioned, "best guns for women", and made creative decisions with the rest! :D I have written actiony-type scenes for the first time, in like, ever so I hope they don't suck. I've tried to keep my Briticisms out of this (or worse, my Welshisms) and adopt a bit of American lingo, but again, it probably sucks. Forgive me!

"I think, we need to make another run for clothes." Carol, came into the dining room with a basket load of laundry. "This stuff is beyond repair." The group was settling down to dinner, leaving T-Dog on watch on the roof.

"Hey, I like that shirt!" Glenn picked up a blue baseball shirt from the top of the pile, he held it up, showing the massive tear across the back. "Oh, when did I do that?" He stuck his arm through the hole, clearly disappointed about his ruined shirt.

"Last week. I'm running out of thread too. Before long Lori is gonna bust outta her clothes and we don't have nearly enough winter things together. Snow's gonna come soon."

Everyone turned to look at Lori, who was passing plates out, her small bump protuding from her thin frame. Her shirt strained to cover her and it wouldn't be long before she'd be wearing Rick's shirts.

"Sounds good Carol, will make some plans tomorrow." Rick nodded, taking his seat.

Satisfied, Carol dropped the basket in the corner of the room, taking her seat next to Daryl. "Great, I'm gonna come with you too." She told him, digging in to her potatoes.

Daryl's fork stopped midway to his mouth and he turned slowly to look at her. "No, you ain't. I'll get whatever you need." He told her gruffly, in a voice that suggested there was no room for debate.

Carol finished chewing before turning to look at him, a smile playing on her lips. "Oh, you gonna pick out maternity bras for Lori? I'm sure you'd be great at that." She winked at him and continued her meal.

Daryl spluttered, a look of horror on his face and most of the table burst into snickers and giggles.

Under the table, Carol, rested her hand on his knee, giving him a small squeeze. "It'll be fine Daryl."

"We'll discuss it later, I ain't happy about this." He told her, his tone suggesting that she was not going to get her way on this. He threaded his fingers through hers anyway, stroking her knuckles with his thumb.

They'd chosen to spend their winter in "Swift Retreats", a small holiday destination with a few log cabins and a lodge. It was bigger than what they needed really, meaning more to watch and heat, but it was secluded and in an ideal location to keep an eye out for Walkers. It had it's own water system, meaning that they could shower, albeit the water was cold. The group were hoping for a lot of snow, enough to keep them in the lodge and enough to keep Walkers away. They were curious to see how the weather affected them. Would they "die"? Would they just freeze and reanimate when the ice thawed? Would it even affect them at all? Whatever the case, at least the snow would slow them down. They would definitely have less flesh to eat, as animals shied away from the cold, would that starve them to a second death?

They chose to use a couple of the nearest lodges for storage, leaving the others. The main lodge became their living quarters, a balcony on either side of the penthouse suite, it became the watch points for those on guard. There were enough rooms for everyone to have their own, but the increasing cold meant everyone had taken to sharing, in order to keep warm. Lori, Rick and Carl took one of the bigger suites, with Carl occasionally coming into Carol's room for the night, to afford the expecting couple some privacy. Maggie and Glenn took another room, her father and sister taking another, although she often went to bed with them when Glenn took watch at night. Technically, T-Dog and Daryl shared, Carol knew there was something between her and Daryl, but he seemed reluctant to push her into anything, for which she was grateful. She secretly thought that perhaps Daryl didn't even know how to treat her, so unused to close company he seemed. But more often that not, he'd crawl into her bed at the end of the night, huddling close to her to keep them warm. He didn't even object to Carl being in the room on occassion, allowing the young boy to take his side of the bed and wordlessly setting up a cot on the floor next to Carol.

That evening, Daryl, Rick and T-Dog poured over the maps they had found in the lodge's reception. They'd also found some pamphlets advertising the local attractions, one of which was a large outlet shopping centre. Further searching showed that there was also a Walmart just a few hundred yards further away. Carol could hear them muttering about how many days it would take and reeling off how much ammo they could take and the names and numbers just completely baffled her. Daryl had been teaching her how to handle weapons, she could now take apart, clean and reassemble most of the guns they had between them, without any help at all. The names defied her though, she only recognised them as either handguns or shotguns. He'd told her though, when they next went to a gun shop, that he was going to look for a Smith and Wesson Centennial 442, whatever that meant. Good for women apparantly. Firing one though, was another matter. They hardly ever used guns on the lodge, not wanting to risk attracting more Walkers and target practice was not deemed necessary enough.

Daryl had, however, started teaching her how to use his crossbow. She was stunned when he first took her out and suggested it. Only the week before she'd seen him snarl at Glenn, who dared pick it up to make room for his own weapons. She swore that thing was as precious as a baby, the way he treated it, cleaning it after every outing, handling it like it was made of glass. When she joked about it, he just shot her a look that suggested she was right.

"You look after the things that look after you. It feeds us, it defends us, it's a thousand times more valuable than any gun and ain't as easy to get. I had this thing on my 18th birthday and that's 'bout the longest I managed to keep anythin'." He told her, helping her position it in her arms.

"I'm pretty sure the feedin' and defendin' come down to the man that uses it." She told him, raising her shoulders up to look to the makeshift target. She missed the look that he gave her as she fixed her gaze on her target, one that was a mixture of gentle surprise and a little of pride.

"Elbow up." He muttered, a little pink tinging his cheeks, whilst tapping said limb. "Prepare for the kickback now."

Caryl let go of the trigger and the arrow missed the centre of the target by just a couple of inches. "Dammit." She muttered, lurching forward to pull the arrow from the wood.

"That was pretty good!" He called after her, she'd only been doing this a couple of days after all.

"Not good enough. And isn't even moving. No Walker is gonna stand there whilst I'm smellin' all kinds of tasty to it." She scoffed, reloading the bow.

"Hey, you got this far without knowing shit about weapons." He tapped her elbow again as she aimed at the target.

"You're just being nice, like always."

"Nice? Hell, woman, who do you think you are talkin' to?" He pushed the bow up a little. "Higher, level with the target. You're gonna ruin my reputation as a bad ass, if you keep talkin' that shit."

She shot him a sweet smile, turned back to the target and released the arrow, hitting the target dead centre.

They'd whispered their argument the night before they were due to leave for the outlet. He argued furiously that she should stay, even resorted to scare tactics about what could be out there waiting for them.

"Stop it Daryl. I am going, it's not even up for discussion anymore. And you trying to scare me is _not_ working." She blew the candle out and tossed her book to the bottom of the bed.

He let out a groan of frustration and threw himself backwards down the bed. "If you get hurt, I am going to kill you." She gave him a pointed look, they both knew how stupid that sounded. Daryl knew he was being childish, but he didn't care. Not when it came to _her_.

He turned his back to the centre of the bed, snubbing her. She ignored him.

His pouting lasted all of ten minutes before he gave up and snuggled up to her back, his arm sliding round her waist. Carol let out a sigh of satisfaction, pleased to have won the argument.

They left the lodge in two separate vans, Daryl and Carol in one, Rick and Glenn in the other. They were hoping this would be the last run they would need to make before spring so they were making the most of it. Both vans had racks on top, they were hoping they might get lucky and get a snowmobile or jetski, in case the much hoped for snow got ridiculously deep.

Food was in pretty good supply with them and T-Dog and Maggie were pretty good at chopping up fire wood for the hearth in the lodge's communal room. Although if they found anything more, they would be quick to take it.

Baby things were the highest priority on Carol's list, the baby was due in the first couple of weeks of spring but no-one wanted to risk not having the things necessary now, just in case Lori went into labour early, or winter stayed later than anticipated. Hershel had left her with a list of things they'd best be getting, Carol had already agreed to assist him with the birth, having been the only one ever having to experience it, aside from Lori. The thought left with an ache in her heart that never left her, although it wasn't as painful as it once was. Her darling Sophia was safe now.

Clothes were another priority. Carl was rapidly outgrowing every pair of jeans he owned, though that was not many. His shoes were pinching at the toes, so much so that he often went barefoot, even though the weather really was too cold for it. Lori needed everything. Underwear was her first request, but it would be hard to predict to what size a pregnant woman's chest could grow. It would simply a case of taking as many bras as possible. Carol herself needed new shirts. She'd worn her only three remaining on rotation, patched up one at least a dozen times and had even taken to wearing the odd one of Daryl's, who seemed to be missing sleeves on every shirt he owned. She didn't have a winter coat, nor any shoes apart from her dirty and worn Keds. They'd seen a store selling outdoor activity gear, they were optimistic they'd find snowboots and things. After all, looters were mainly around at the beginning of summer, it was unlikely anything like what they wanted from there would be taken.

On their return, they were going to siphon what ever fuel they could from abandoned cars to run their vehicles and generators. Already they had started to stockpile this, but the more the better.

Carol was excited to finally be doing something more useful than peeling potatoes. Daryl was more nervous than he'd even been, to take her on this scavenge. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he prayed to some higher power that everything would go alright.

The journey in was uneventful. Not as single shot was fired in 25 miles, every road was blockage-free. There were a few lone Walkers every so often, spotted through binoculars, but not deemed close enough to lose ammunition over, or potentially, drive more Walkers to them. The parking lot to the shopping centre was reasonably empty, just a dozen or so abandoned cars. A heavy goods lorry lay on it's side, cargo mostly gone, the empty palettes surrounding it. There were decaying bodies, Walkers it looked like but not even the flies lingered around them anymore.

Before they got out of the van, he handed her a knife in it's sheath, made her thread it on her belt before she opened the door. A pocket knife, which she tucked safely into her cargo pants pocket and a hatchet.

"You do not put that hatchet down, alright? Not to pick up anything. You see one, you swing, don't you dare hesitate no matter what." He ordered and she nodded quickly, swallowing the lump in her throat. "You never, ever leave my sight unless I tell you otherwise, you stay behind me at every corner. Promise me Carol." He grabbed her shoulder as he spoke, roughly massaging it.

"I promise." She whispered. "I won't let you down." She ran her hand over his jaw and smiled weakly. She felt sick with nerves and anticipation, but she was ready. As Daryl would often say, she could handle this shit.

He grabbed her by the neck and kissed her firmly, quickly. It was the first time they'd kissed like this and she melted into him, kissing him back. All this time they'd spent in the same bed, he touched her constantly, yet they had never done this before. Never been this kind of way. She now prayed they would stay alive, just so she could do this again, it was heavenly.

He pulled back from her first, breathing deeply. "You've never let me down." He told her, finally breaking his gaze with her, turning to Rick in the other car and nodding the signal to get out.

The van were backed up to the main doors, which unfortunately, were open, it meant that anything could be lurking there. The vans were left open, ready to be loaded as they cleared each store. Rick and Glenn went left, Carol and Daryl, right. They stumbled across a Walker as they entered their first shop, a baby clothing store. It was young, a girl of probably eighteen or so, wearing the bloody and tattered uniform of a fast food restaurant further up the strip. Carol raised her hatchet to strike but Daryl got there first, his axe splitting her head into two. She crumbled to the ground with a splat, the smell worsening. He scanned the store, seeing nothing else, creeping towards the back room to search further. He couldn't see anything, but he grabbed an upturned chair, pulled the stockroom door shut silently, wedging a chair underneath the handle.

He turned and nodded to her, her cue to start filling the laundry bags they'd pilfered from the carts in the lodge's laundry room. She stuffed in handfuls of baby gros from the shelves, not paying much attention to whether they were boys or girls clothes. Daryl circled her, eyes fixed on the wedged door and front entrance. She snatched pacifiers and bottles, an expressing kit, bibs. There were some powdered milk and diapers on display and she took those too. Blankets, a sling or two, teething rings all landed with a thud in the bag. She considered the baby bath on the upper shelves, but decided against carrying something so bulky. Baby Grimes would have to make do with the sink.

After spotting some cloth diapers, of which she took over two dozen, she was done. The laundry bag was half full, this baby was going to want for nothing.

Daryl turned and looked the bag she was dragging across the floor. "It's a baby, what the hell is all that crap for?" He muttered, as they crept their way back to the van.

"Essentials." She huffed, struggling with one hand to pull it. She knew better than to ask him for help, he needed both hands to watch for Walkers.

As they left the van for the next stop, Rick and Glenn returned from their first store, Glenn carrying armfuls of coats, his gun resting atop, his own full laundry bag dragging from his arm by the cord. "Coats and lots and lots of boots!" He said gleefully, as he threw them into the van.

"You seen any Walkers?" Rick asked, wiping his knife on his trouser leg. Carol frowned, she was still struggling to get blood stains out of denim.

"Just one, an employee it looked like."

"Yeah we had two. Watch your back." Daryl nodded at Rick and they made their way into the drugstore.

They found three Walkers in there. Daryl used his bow for the first two and Carol took the third. It was missing both legs, one at the knee ,the other at the thigh and was groaning in hunger as it painfully dragged itself towards her with its battered hands. She stuck her knife in it through the eye just as it's fingers brushed her shoe and sighed in relief as the knife came free easily. This was only the third Walker she'd ever killed but it felt more natural than she thought it would, as if she had been doing it all along. She shouldn't have been so afraid of surviving. She _could_ do this.

He followed her through to the feminine hygiene section and she loaded up on Tampax and Kotex, she threw in a couple of pregnancy tests, some condoms and Daryl raised an eyebrow, catching her with a handful of Trojans.

She stifled a laugh. "Glenn and Maggie are young. And that means stupid. Just in case." She explained. He looked her as if didn't believe her. Moving further along, she tossed in shampoos and razors, a few flannels and some soaps. She managed to find the baby lotions and teething gels. Some baby paracetamols, but the adult medicines were a little thin on the ground. Still, she chucked the few packets in, as well as bandages and plasters. Her bag was still reasonably light, so she allowed herself to pick up some multivitamins, Lord knew, they could probably use them and on the floor, below the shelf where she had picked up some scissors and hair combs, the contents of a Revlon stand lay strewn about. Checking Daryl's gaze was away from her, she snuck in a three or four nail polishes, half a dozen glosses and lipsticks too. Hey, she reasoned to herself, it was going to be pretty boring being snowed in for weeks on end, she was sure the girls wouldn't mind a girly night in.

On that logic, she hunted down some moisturisers and chapsticks. She was very lucky to have smooth skin, that didn't need makeup but it had definitely been neglected the last few months. It had seemed so stupid to ask the boys to pick these up for the women. She threw in face masks too, she'd have to make sure that just she, Lori, Beth and Maggie sorted this load, she thought with a silent chuckle.

"You ready to look in the back?" He asked, switching his bow for his knife.

"Yeah, just about done." She stood up, readjusting her grip on the hatchet.

"Leave the bag there, we'll stick the meds in your backpack." He pulled out his torch to shine in the stock room, he cursed as he tripped over an oxygen canister, he bent down to push it out of the way and Carol saw the yellow eyes of a Walker appearing from the darkness. Without hesitation she leant over Daryl's bent back and threw every bit of strength she had into slamming her hatchet into it's drooling face. She had used such force that she couldn't keep her grip on her weapon and it sank to the floor with the thing. Daryl snapped up, searching for any others, finding none.

"You okay?" He asked, he hadn't even seen that coming and if it hadn't been for her, he might not have killed the Walker in time. He knew it. She knew it and with that her jaw trembled. She shook her head and shook off the tears.

"Yeah, I'm fine, you okay?"

He nodded, wrenched the hatchet out of the thing's face, gave it back to her. "That was good." Was all he said, as he began to read labels on the few bottles on the shelves. This place had been looted before. "Keep your back to me so I can load up. Watch the door."

She did as he asked and he guided her backwards with a hand on her belt loop, taking care to not let her stumble. He seemed to find plenty, despite the lack of offerings, throwing in a box of latex gloves and some syringes he zipped the bag up.

He rubbed the small of the back. "Let's get out here."

The adult clothing store had not been nearly as stressful, despite it's size and the took a bag each to load up. She almost swooned when she found decent pajamas, it had been so long since she had the chance to wear night clothes. He was less fussy than her, jamming whatever he could reach, claiming they'd just make do. But he picked up a purple knitted beanie hat, a little ivory rose sticked to one side and he handed it to her as they jumped in the van. She smiled at the gesture, and put it on immediately, admiring it in the rearview mirror. She knew she would be wearing this all winter.

As they returned with the last of their spoils, they saw Rick strapping down jetskis to the van, the doors were shut, ready to go.

They returned to the lodge three days after they left, having had a minor problem with a herd that they couldn't shake, but they remained unscathed. The rest of the group rushed out to greet them, just as the first of the winter snow began to fall, a few flakes, sticking to the ground immediately.

As they dragged out the laundry bags, a lipstick rolled out and Maggie snatched it up immediately.

"Ooh, pretty, I ain't had a lipstick in forever." She crooned, twisting the cap off to look at it.

"Take it." Carol offered. "I got a couple in there somewhere."

Maggie beamed beatifically, stuffing it into her jeans pocket as she helped Glenn unload the coats.

"You risked your life for a fuckin' lipstick?" He questioned incredulously. "You are never coming out on a run again."

Carol laughed and kissed his cheek as she walked past him with a box containing a travel cot. "Bit like you risking your life for a purple hat!" She called over her shoulder.

She was definitely doing this again.


End file.
